Naresh Goyal has the kind of house that makes you stop and gawp and wonder who could possibly live there - an elegant white stucco-fronted townhouse in a secluded road with sweeping views across Regent's Park.

Goyal, 57, is one of India's super-rich, a generation of businessmen redefining the world's largest democracy. The Sunday Times this year ranked him as the sixth richest Asian living in Britain, estimating his wealth at £780m. He has lived in London since 1991.

He is also an entirely self-made man. From modest beginnings, sleeping in his uncle's travel agency in Delhi, where he worked during the day, Goyal has weaved through the thicket of Indian bureaucracy to build the country's biggest domestic airline, Jet Airways. Now his aim is to go global. The airline began flying between India and Britain last year and has plans to rapidly expand the number of routes across Europe, Asia and the United States.

The front door is opened by one of a retinue of smartly dressed Indian staff. The scent of Indian cooking mixes with the smell of blossom from the park. The decor is an ornate mix of European and Indian; figurines in Grecian robes on the mantlepiece and a painting of a young girl in a sari in the dining room.

Goyal is a small man with a white moustache that curls upwards when he smiles, something he does readily. His conversation is punctured by a guttural "eeeee", which dissolves into laughter. He is an incorrigible name-dropper. The names spill out of his mouth like cards being flung from a Rolodex. Lord Paul give him a call, he says, in his thick Indian accent. Lord Marshall, you can talk to him, ask him about me. Lakshmi Mittal, give him a call. I will get their numbers for you, he enthuses.

Perpetual motion

But it is not just bluster. They do take the calls. "In India today he has the best airline," says Lord Paul, the Labour peer who has known Goyal for five or six years. "He has really built that airline from scratch. I admire him and he is really very well regarded in India. He is a very lovely man. You are happy to be in his company."

Lord Marshall, the former boss of British Airways also returns the compliments that Goyal sends his way. "Naresh has built his business very successfully indeed," he says. "He is an amazing man. He is in perpetual motion. He never seems to relax and is here, there and everywhere. He is one of those people who learns an awful lot by being curious and asking questions. He is very charismatic and has an incredible array of contacts and, in many cases, friends."

Goyal was born in 1949 in Patiala, in Punjab. His father, a jewellery dealer, died when he was a child. He got, he says, "just a basic education, not a very good school or anything" and, at 18, moved to Delhi, where he worked with his uncle as a sales agent for Lebanese International Airlines. For three years he slept in the office and earned about £25 a month.

He began to build contacts and, in 1974, with £500 from his mother, he set up his own agency named Jetair, representing the likes of Air France, Austrian Airlines and Cathay Pacific.

The Indian government had nationalised the airline industry in 1953, leaving only Indian Airlines domestically and Air India on international routes. But in 1991, the market began to open up. The government allowed what it described as air taxis to operate - private carriers could fly but they could not print time tables.

Goyal spotted an opportunity. With backing from Gulf Air and Kuwaiti Air, he leased four aircraft and began Jet Airways in 1993. He hired talent from airlines he admired and overcame the constraints of not being able to publish a schedule with inventive zeal.

"Let's say we had a flight at 7 o'clock in the morning," he recalls. "You know, people in India generally have a late breakfast. So we would announce to the papers, we have an early morning breakfast flight, which means about 7 o'clock. Then we would say we have a flight late breakfast time, which used to be 9.25. The same flights are still operating. Then we say we have a flight late lunchtime, which is still operating, that's the 13.50. Then we say we have a flight high tea time, which is 5 o'clock." And so it went for a year, until the government relented and allowed private scheduled airlines.

The partnership with the Gulf carriers was no accident. A large number of Indians work in the region and flights were going only into India's main cities. Goyal's idea was to link those with smaller cities, match schedules and get cross promotion.

In the early years, Goyal and everyone else had to roll up their sleeves. "The pilot would even clean the toilet to keep the aircraft clean," he says. "I had never cleaned a toilet in my life. I would never do it. But I did at that time."

In its first year of operation, Jet carried 730,000 passengers. Last year, the company, which now has a fleet of 55 aircraft, carried 10 million people, serving a middle class in India reckoned to be 300-million strong. Goyal cites Singapore Airlines as his model because of its reputation for reliability and quality of service. Regarded in India as a shrewd businessman, he has built an enviable reputation for Jet. Revenues last year reached $1.4bn (£757m).

The ride has not been entirely smooth. Jet Airways' market share peaked at 46% but has fallen to 35% as aggressive new low-cost carriers have been launched. Jet is still growing, but has failed to keep pace with the domestic market, which is expanding by up to 25% a year. "Market share is relative; you want to make money. And we have been making money every year but one," says Goyal. Last month, the airline, which floated in India last year, pulled out of a $500m acquisition of rival Air Sahara that would have regained some of the lost share after investors responded negatively.

Goyal has also been forced to defend himself against repeated government inquiries into the source of his finances. Each investigation has failed to uncover anything untoward.

Hospitable

Goyal met his wife, Anita, after she joined the company in 1979 as a marketing analyst and rose to become the head of marketing and sales. They married nine years later. Why, I ask, did it take you so long to get around to marrying her? "I generally don't make the decision in these things," he says. Then he adds conspiratorially, "I didn't want to disappoint my other friends", displaying a sometimes ribald sense of humour and roaring like an elephant. The couple have a son, 16, and a daughter, 13. His son loves cricket and enjoyed a "good chat" with Australian international Shane Warne when he recently paid a visit, Goyal says.

Goyal is immensely hospitable. It's rare that a journalist will get away without staying for lunch. He also has a beguiling line in flattery, polished, one suspects, over many years of dealing with bureaucrats in India. I must be, he tells me, one of the most highly regarded journalists in Britain, drawing an embarrassed cough and a quick change of subject. "That's his style and it's got him a long way and good luck to him," Lord Marshall says.

At the end of 2004, international routes from India were liberalised. "We started our first flight [to Heathrow] on 23rd May 2005," he says, in the deliberate manner of a history student who has memorised a key date. The first flight was between Mumbai and London, followed by Delhi-London. A second Mumbai flight is being added, as well as a flight from Amritsar in Punjab.

There are 1.4 million people of Indian heritage living in Britain and the Civil Aviation Authority reckons that 1.5 million people will fly from Britain to India this year, nearly three times the number five years ago.

"UK is a natural because of the Indians living here. We know the market. There is an automatic affinity," Goyal says. "I would like to see in the next two, three years that we build eight, nine flights a day to the UK. We want to operate to Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow and we are looking at Gatwick. We are looking at China, US. We plan to start Zurich, Munich, Frankfurt, you know, Rome, Milan." Jet has already added routes to Colombo, Singapore, Kathmandu and Kuala Lumpur.

Many of the estimated 28 million Indians living overseas already know Jet Airways. But the company wants a wider audience and has hired design agency Landor Associates to work on the brand. "We don't only want Indians," Goyal says. "English, Europeans living here. Besides British, I think a lot of other nationalities enjoy living here, so a lot of Europeans, Australians, everybody who goes to India, wants to go to India, enjoys doing business with India. We want to be one of the best five airlines in the world. One of the best five."

Goyal on Goyal

Who do you look up to in the business?

Lord Marshall of British Airways and JY Pillay, the former chairman of Singapore Airlines. These two people I admire. You can quote me

How do you view the current generation of Indian businessmen?

The whole perception of India is changing. Most people used to think we are just labourers, we are just immigrants, we are just poor people. I think if Indians are given the chance, they can be successful anywhere in the world

Is China a rival to India?

I think we both can complement each other. It will help both countries working together. It will help the people, it will help the world economy. There are lots of things that China does that India doesn't. There are lots of things that India does that China doesn't